Live Audio Files -
Interviews with Charles Ostman on the Evolution Channel

We have approached the threshold boundary of an
evolutionary eventstream unparalleled in scale, velocity, and complexity by any
era of known human history, poised at the edge of a spectacular, and
irreversible eventhorizon . . .

"Neuroprosthetics are inevitable" says
Charles Ostman, a senior fellow at the Institute for Global Futures, "Biochip
implants may become part of a rote medical procedure . . . after that,
interface with outside systems is a logical next step" from the article -
Is Human Chip Implant Wave of the Future?

This is the test, the "rights of
passage" into and beyond the event horizon of the Next Millennium

It has been noted by some who have witnessed, and chronicled, the
ever increasing pace, as an accleration vector in the temporal domain, the rate
of technological, societal, and cultural evolutution of the human species.

Recent interviews on the Art Bell radio
program - audiostream files online

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There is currently an emergent "virtual
asset commodity" based economic ecology, in which the primary indices of
valuation are transitioning toward the brokeraging of processes, and the
inception of ubiquitous computing and telecommunication infrastructures, as an
emergent "operational ecology", populated with artificial life,
genetic and evolutionary algorithms, hierarchical autonomous agent "coloies"
and societal systems. Biological and non-bilogical nanotechnology,
and its myriad variant applications already in advanced stages of development
in many cases, are the material artifacts of this operational ecology.
Nanotechnology is not a singular niche technology or arena of potential
commercial interest . . . it is a concept, a transformative threshold which the
human species is about to encounter, on a truly evolutionary scale.
In virtually every conceivable realm of human endeavor,
ranging from computing, to advanced materials, from superconductors, to the
bio-terraforming of entire ecosystems, genetic bio-engineering of ourselves as
a species, the creation of synthetic lifeforms . . . and an extraordinary realm
of molecular manipulation enterprises, the ultimate outcome of which may
eventually be the replication of virtually any existing object, and the
creation of objects and materials which would otherwise not be possible,
nanotechnology will indeed have its influence. This nanotechnology realm, many
fundamental aspects of which are indeed much closer to implementation than most
might perhaps believe, are already being aggressively funded via both private
and institutional organizations here in the US, and throughout most of the
technically developed nationstates of the world.
The economic, societal, and cultural
implications are as "evolutionary" as the current and future implied
technologies themselves. My focus is to examine, in detail, a systematic
metaview of the this next transformative age we are about to encounter,
voluntarily, or otherwise.

There is a state of change at hand, the rate
and complexity of which is an acceleration vector never before experienced
in human history. The relationships between rapidly
evolving technologies, ever exapnding volumes and complexities of of information
resources, and socio-economic system substrates are going to reshape almost
every aspect of life as it is currently understood to be. To study the nuances
and implications of this synergistic codependancy is to become an adaptable
entity, capable of evolving and utilizing the tools embedded in this
interactive, bi-directional experiential knowledge conveyance system which will
be referred to here as the "media matrix".
Examine the details of this conceptual paradigm as a
learning experience at San
Francisco State University,

Knowledge velocity, scale, and
complexity are exceeding human capacity for effective decision rendering,
particularly in mission critical applications compressed into ever shorter time
cycle increments.The substrate of socio-economic systems, valuation
indices of commodities and currency systems, the status of industry base strata
and their attendant distribution strucutres, are already in a state of flux as
this fabric is being drawn into a global connectivity grid, currently referred
to as the Internet. As a mission critical commodity resource, contextually
enhanced and conditionalized knowledge domains are among the commodities of the
harvestable resource base being spawned in this virtual asset driven economic
system.

As a design strategy, I propose that
the human species has been deliberately "programmed" to respond to the
aesthetic content inherent with nature, with a depth of emotional engagement
which transcends mere logical or reasoned responses. Therefore, if such a
supposition can be considered plausible, it offers the speculatory potential for
experimentation in the arena of utilizing artificial life forms, genetic and
mutational operators, and other process dynamics which mimic the physiological
and behavioral attributes of living organisms and ecosystems, to generate
aesthetic content in synthetic environments.

Never before in history have such a
rapidly emerging series of technical, scientific. and socioeconomic developments
brought us to the edge of an event horizon of such fundamental, involuntary,
and irreversable magnitude.New virtual assets consist of the strategic
resource of knowledge engineering, synthetic sentience on demand, ubuitous
computing, functionality matrices and the advent of interactive experiential
conveyance as a "process deliverable". As a commodity resource,
synthetic sentience on demand is no longer confined to the realms of academic
curiousity or theoretical paradigms . . . it will become an absolute
requirement.

For better or for worse, we will
collectively know, well within our current lifetimes, and quite likely within a
short handful of years, how we, as the human species on this world at this time,
will negotiate the evolutionary tests about to be set before us.This is
no easy, or trivial task. No greater burden has ever been placed upon a smaller
portion of the population with a greater responsibility to implement such a
manifestation of truth.

The concept of utilizing the fabric
of the Internet as an experiencial conveyance engine is at the very heart of the
existance matrix evolving in the near future. Bidirectional telepresense
and tele-existance streaming are obvious functionalities embedded into this
matrix.
It is here, at this event horizon, where we acquiece to a realm where
the interface boundary between the real and the virtual, the organic and the
synthetic, become seamlessly infused into an irreversable, ever evolving
symbiosis of our own creation, and what evolves henceforth. This is . . .
virtual immortality

I visualize a world in which the
asthetic and behavioral attributes encountered on the virtual terraform, in
whatever domain or environment may be represented therein, is not confined to
merely a recreation of "common" humanoid related environments or
participants. Indeed, the very essense of access to virtual environments
represents the potential for encountering experiences, lifeforms, and asthetic
content not possibly accessable via any other means.
Just as there is asthetic content to be discovered and observed in the
nature of the "real" world, there is also unlimited potential asthetic
content in the "alternative" nature of "virtual worlds".
The creation of virtual worlds, or for that matter, virtual universes, can
encompass any range of spatial or temporal domains, ranging from the
inifinitely immense, such as a model of the known universe, to the atomic and
molecular scale of a theoretical "nanoworld".

Observing the exponential growth of
the global internet, the ever increasing complexity of connectivity systems and
subsystems, self modifying code structures that can be trained to search for
contextually linked information, information processing and management on a
scale that would rival most "living organisms" as they are currently
defined, and event the potential for a "sentience threshold" that
may already be theoretically approachable; is there an argument for
observing the growth of the global net as a quasi-organic process? If one were
to consider that the global internet system has already crossed the "functional
complexity" status of an organic entity, then a symbiotic model can
already be shown to exist. The human population is at the threshold
being drawn into a hopefully benign, but irreversable state of human / internet
symbiosis

The Institute for Global Futures is a
strategic technologies research group which engages in trend analysis,
technology development stream topology identification, and complex forecasting
which examines synergistic thread linkages between various technologies and
socio-economic systems. The activities of the institute include consulting
services, strategic planning, reports, analysis, media programs, conferences,
and strategic alliance building for a variety of global clients.

Complex new technologies are rapidly transforming markets, economies, and
industries. The Institute for Global Futures was founded to promote the
productive, sustainable, and strategic use of advanced leading edge
technologies.

Peer Into the Strange and Fantastic NanoWorlds of
Charles Ostman. Come in and visit the 3D virtual nanoworlds that
Charles Ostman has developed as part of his quest to model and visualize the
myriad possibilities that the nanotech of the near future may offer. Molecular
machines, self assembling "nano lego" components, nanobots and
nanocritters, pseudo proteins, quasi viral components, "artificial"
organisms, ubiquitous nano "foglettes" . . . . this may only be the
beginning

"Organomorph" This image was
created by the morphing together of two 3D raytraced "virtual world"
images, utilizing an artificial life routine to drive the control points in the
morphing engine. Both of the virtual world images themselves are renderings of
3D artificial lifeforms, which were subsequently morphed together with an
artificial lifeform driven process, hence the title, "organomorph".

Spawning entities, flourishing on the virtual
terraform - I don't "draw" art, I grow it.Driven by a
fascination with structure, form, and the mechanics of interactive forces as
they occur in nature, the goal is to create scenes which are the results of
compuational models based on these characteristics. Virtually all constructs
observed in the nature of the "real universe", such as the branching
structures of trees, the construction of a leaf or flower, the distribution
patterns of stars in a galaxy, pebbles on a beach, or even the wispy forms of a
cloud, can be defined and replicated with a series of formulae and procedural
algorithms.

Once these processes have been defined and established as a procedural set
of rules, these rules can be modified or "distorted". In other words,
there is vastly more potential in creating a synthetic environment which
actually contains the dynamic elements of an evolving "organism" or
ecosystem, than merely "drawing" a picture of such an environment.

This is the real power of the computer, to be able to create structures and
forms, as a process, utilizing interactive forces and influences, as they occur
(or don't occur) in nature, to spawn the contents of a scene. It is in this
way that "impossible" virtual worlds can be explored, ranging from
chaotic events that defy the "ordinary" rules of nature, to the
evolution of artificial life forms flourishing in synthetic environments.

Enter this world, and examine the contents of these renderings of nanoscale
systems, intergrated circuitry combined with biomolecular components, and
various bio-molecular "device" simulations which are being created as
part of an ongoing project with the Institute for Global Futures, and other
interested organizations. The very concept of what is currently referred to as
"applied medicine" is on the verge of an extraordinary transformation.
What is coming, for instance, are nanoscale molecular "devices"
which are intended to enter living cells and facilitate their own ability
modify and "repair" their internal physiological chemistries. And
this is only the beginning . . . The newly emmerging
frontier of Nanobiology represents the next great
revolution in medicine

My ultimate focus is on the concept of nanotechnology
representing the next great revolution, as an evolutionary threshold
which will transform, but also test, the human civilization's capacity to adapt
and evolve to this new realm. The substrate of
socio-economic systems, valuation indices of commodities and currency systems,
the status of industry base strata and their attendant distribution structures,
which are already in a state of flux as this fabric is being drawn into
the global connectivity grid, currently referred to as the internet, is only a
precursory indicator of what the nanotechnology age is about to potentially
create.

This entire genre' of development will evolve into an new socio-economic
system substrate not conceivable by today's standards of reference. Various
aspects of applied and theoretical nanotechnology, neural prosthesis and
implantable interface devices, ubiqutous computing and process functionality
domains as a virtual asset resource base accessable on the internet, the
evolution of newly forming socio-economic substrate systems emminating from the
"virtual terraform" . . . these are only a few of the key marker
threshold points in an evolutionary event stream which are embedded into the
existance matrices of the near future.

In my world, I am not merely an observer, who occassionally writes about
such speculations, but rather, am a direct participant in some of the
developmental processes which will make these very technologies and their
eventual applications possible. It is my personal belief that a series of
choices, decision boundaries to be negotiated, will soon become self apparent to
the society at large.

Read Charles Ostman's views,
technical analysis, and perspectives of the nanoworld of the present and near
future in the book - CyberLife! CyberLife! - ISBN 0-672-30491-0 Nanotechnology, the next
Revolution . . . the NanoFuture . . . of NanoComputing, Molecules, and
Photons . . . Strange Molecules with Special Properties . . . MicroMachines,
Nanotech, and Processes Available Today . . . Biomechanics in the Nanorealm . .
. What are the Goals, and How do We Get There?

21st Century Online

Visit 21st Century Online . . . where the future is being
invented . . .
Authors, scientists, technology developers, and various
practitioners in the artform of forging the fabric of the future . . . come
together here to explore and share their perspectives on the social, economic,
and cultural aspects of how the future is being forged by those who are creating
it now. Featured authors on the Inside Magazine homepage . . . Charles Ostman, Deepak Chopra, Andrew Tobias, Alvin Toffler,
Roger Dawson, Brit Hume, James Canton . . . and many others

Excerpt from the newly released
book by Bruce Damer, "Avatars": ISBN
0-021-68840-9
Life in
Digital Space - Bots, Biota and Virtual Pets. The NanoWorlds of
Charles Ostman. Charles Ostman is a real wonder of a "Professional
Synergist" from Berkeley, California. Ostman brings his years of
experience in building successively smaller and more complex electronics at
Lawrence Berkeley labs and intense interest in Nanotechnology to bear through
his organic art vision. Ostman's works seek to give us a reflection from a
future "virtual terraform" inhabited by "synthetic sentients".
Ostman sees a time in the future when Nanotechnology (the ability to make
things one atom at a time) renders all current economic systems obsolete and
transforms human lifestyles and our very perception of reality Ostman is
science editor for Mondo 2000 and a frequent guest on Art Bell's Coast to
Coast all night radio show. The basic inspirational building blocks of
Ostman's art include molecular machines, self assembling "nano lego"
components, nanobots and nanocritters, pseudo proteins, quasi viral components,"artificial"
organisms, and ubiquitous nano "foglettes". Visit the
NanoWorlds
of Charles Ostman

This is how I actually see the universe, and how I use a variety of
technical tools and processes, combined with computational resources to allow "access"
to other parallel universes.

As described in the excerpt from a paper titled "Virtual Reality as an
Art Medium" (located above on this webpage), is both the theory and
application of utilizing the computer as a computational engine to create
synthetic environments and quasi-organic entities flourishing in these virtual
realms, as an alternative form of nature (both at the nano and "macro"
scale). In this context, the computer can "discover" asthetic
content as well as functional models of such domains, not unlike the way a
photographer may "discover", and capture the asthetics of nature as
it occurs in the "real" world.

The included imgages are computer generated 3D renderings of theoretical
nanocomponents, created by the author as a visualization of possible
implementations of such molecular substructures and interactive symbiotic
components. These are a few examples from a much larger collection of
rendered, theoretical nanosubcomponent systems, consisting of various "species"
types with specific interactive and symbiotic properties.

. . . for a glimpse of the foundry from which these various experiments in
evolving artforms are spawned, and proliferate.

The "Brain of Charles" . . .

The "Brain of Charles"
- this "virtual brain" was created by the author by raytracing the
volumetric data of a 3D scanned brain, which was subsequently surface mapped
with a custom developed procedural texturing routine. The topology in the
background is actually the result of a chunk of calcite which was also scanned
in with the Cyberware 3D scanning system, and then also surface mapped with a
procedural texturing routine. This entire scene, complete with the metallic
probe entering the lower right corner of the "brain entity", was
rendered as part of the scene art featured in the article written by the author
for Mondo 2000 magazine, on the topic of current and near future mind-machine
interface technology. For further exploration into this, and other such realms,
and beyond, please visit Mondo 2000

Where Art and Technology Come Together Fine art on various media,
virtual and real "entities", environments, custom applications and
technology development for the "discovery" of asthetic content . .
. Berkeley Designs